This resource has been extracted from our
Reading Workshop discussion on Iain McGilchrist's
The Master and his Emissary. This will be uploaded in two parts as the files are very large. Part 1 includes the Introduction up to the end of Chapter 5.
The aim of this resource is to understand McGilchrist's hypothesis (the hemispheres differ in meaningful ways that explains aspects of the human experience and the trajectory of society in the Western world). His thesis is that there are two fundamentally opposed realities, two different modes of experience; that each is of ultimate importance in bringing about the human world & that their difference is rooted in the bihemisphereic structure of the brain. Of fundamental importance, is that attention is not just another cognitive function, but a way in which we dispense our consciousness and it is a moral act. What we attend to & how we attend to it changes it & changes us. These are not different ways of
thinking about the world: they are different ways of
being in the world!
Part One of this book (Chapters 1-6) begins with a discussion on the brain itself- the evolution of the brain, its divided & asymmetrical nature, the implications of the development of music & language, and examining not what, but how the hemispheres process things differently. Part One concludes with a discussion on the relationship between the two hemispheres. It seems that they coexist together on a daily basis, but have fundamentally different sets of values & priorities. Each is crucially important and delivers valuable aspects of the human condition and needs the other for different purposes & yet, the hemispheres seem destined to pull apart.
There is so much to unpack in this book, I highly recommend reading it!
A huge thanks to @placematt for editing and putting these together, and to @987baz for creating the music!
